Expert Reviewed

Articles vetted and approved by hfm magazine editors and industry experts.

Hospitals face increased need amid pandemic to improve patient throughput

An acute care hospital cannot begin to be able to deliver cost-effective care if it lacks a fully coordinated approach for moving patients from admission to discharge.

Brooke Balster March 1, 2023

Point-of-service collection goes better if the right strategies and tactics are employed

Health systems need to adopt new strategies that will support a positive patient experience and improve collection efforts, all while minimizing the negative impact to patients. 

Stacie M. Johnson, MAEd, CRCR, CSBI March 1, 2023

Hospitals require an integrated team approach to ensuring revenue integrity

Hospital and health system finance teams should not view payment audits and denials as being solely their concerns. Instead, these issues require an all-hands-on-deck approach.

Dawn Crump, MA, SSBB, CHC February 28, 2023

Care coordination networks offer path to addressing problems of health inequity

Initiatives to improve access to care and address social determinants of health (SDoH) have been shown to work. To be successful, they need sustained support from all stakeholders within our nation’s healthcare system.

Caitlin L. Murphy, MSPH, February 24, 2023

3 considerations and 8 steps for creating an HaH program 

The prediction that HaH programs would continue to proliferate across our nation’s healthcare system has proven to be on target.b it now seems clear the innovative care model of providing hospital-level care in a patient’s home as a substitute for acute inpatient hospital care is finally getting the attention it deserves from hospital systems. The growing…

M. Orry Jacobs November 28, 2022

3 ways healthcare providers should vet potential private equity partners

As their medical practices returned to near-normal operations recently, more than two years after COVID-19 restrictions were first imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), some practice owners found themselves taking stock of their livelihoods and future prospects. The pandemic caused many of them — including physician groups and health systems —…

Gary Bruce November 20, 2022

How health systems can support underserved patients through in-home care

Finding a way to deliver high-touch care to vulnerable and underserved patients using the patient’s home as the primary point of care has become a strategic priority for providers. The strategic shift to a focus on in-home care for these populations stems from increasing pressure on health systems to lower the cost of care for populations they serve while solving for the challenges presented by social determinants of health.

Eric Galvin, CPA October 21, 2022

Why owning a health plan is a good provider strategy

The trend toward increased ownership of health plans by health systems shows no signs of slowing as health systems are increasingly recognizing the importance of having their primary focus be on health and health outcomes rather than on the number of visits or procedures. A health system leader describes the advantages of health plan ownership and strategic considerations for pursuing this approach.

Scott Nordlund October 21, 2022

New IDS merger aims to improve value and access for its communities

A case study of a merger of two health systems in the Pacific Northwest exemplifies a shift in focus among health system mergers toward creating transformative partnerships aimed at improving value and overall cost effectiveness. The authors recount steps that the new merged integrated delivery system (IDS) has taken to realize the merger’s primary goals.

Tom Kruse October 4, 2022

How Mercyhealth applied automation to fine-tune revenue cycle management

Mercyhealth, a health system based in Rockford, Illinois, was prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic to transform its revenue management processes and pivot to an automated approach that would enable leadership to track effectiveness of staff working at home.

Kimberly Scaccia, CRCR August 31, 2022
googletag.cmd.push( function () { googletag.display( 'hfma-gpt-leaderboard' ); } );